Hydraulic turbine



Sept. 8, 1931. v. KAPLAN HYDRAULIC TURBINE 1914 i 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 30 iNVENT R Victor Kaplan B hus aflbrney$ I W63? Kaplan Se t; 8; 1931.

v. KAPLAN 1,822,773

HYDRAULIC TUIVRBINE Filed July 50, 1914 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 III;

v INVENTOR WaTNESSES WWW an i Patented Sept. 8, 1931 UNITED STATES VICTOR KAPLAN, O1 BRUNIN', AUSTRIA HYDRAULIC TURBINE Application filed .l'uly 30, 1914, Serial No. 854,149, and in Hungary February 18, 1913.

The present invention relates to improvements in turbines, and more particularly relates to improvements in high specific speed hydraulic turbines.

5 One object of the present invention is to eflect a re ulation or adjustment of the run- I ners of hy raulic turbines in accordance with v the variation of the quantity of-fluid passed,

whereby a sustained e'fliciency is maintained over wide ranges of load dueto the avoidance of axial eddies;

Other objects will be apparent from the consideration of the specificationand claims.

. In the regulating devices at present in use, the variation of the quantity of fluid medium passing through a turbine is obtained either by throttling the passage of the medium by means'of throttling flaps, slides, valves, cocks or the like, or by employing turnable uide- 2 vanes, so called Fink turnvanes whic enable the clear width of passage between two neighboring guiding vanes to be altered from a certain maximum down to zero. Although 2 the latter modeof regulation is superior to able guide vanes has,

tion with rapidly revolving runners, the disadvantage that the efliciency is rapidly decreased when thequantity of fluid passed is 'redu'ced- Q In orderto obviate this disadvantagethe runner of the turbine is, according to the present invention, provided with blades which are adapted to be turned about axes in such a manner that the relative position of the guide vanes and runnerblades, and consequently the inlet and outlet angles of the runner blades may be altered in accordance with the variation of the quantity of fluid passed through theguide vanes. By the simultaneous alteration of these two angles and the consequent alteration of the inlet and outletsections or passages, the inlet and outlet angles of the runner may be adapted to' any desired admissionv and at the same timefthe formation of axial eddies is-prevented, whereby a very high eflici'encymay be obtained over wide ranges of load.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which Figure-1 is a diathe former, the regulation by means of turnespecially in connec granimatic view showing the variation of the velocities and angles with varying admission, Figure 2 an elevation of a runner of a water turbine, the hub of the wheel being shown in section, and Figure 3 a fra mental-y 5 plan corresponding to Figure 2. igures 4 and 5 illustrate the application of the invention to radial-flow and Francis-turbines respectively. 4 v

In order to clearly explain the invention the velocities of the water during the passage through a runner have been diagrammatically shown in Figure 1, the influence of the resistance not .having been taken into account. The blade of the runner is designated by 1, 0, 2, whilst the absolute inlet velocity of the water at the point ofinlet 1 is designated by 0 u is the peripheral velocity and w the relative velocity of the water at the same point; 0?, u and '10 represent the same velocitiesat the outlet 2. The angle of discharge of the guidevanes is indicatedby a, theangle of discharge or the outlet angle of the runner blade as indicated by.8 and the {)nlet angle of the runner blade is-indicated 5 During normal working, that is, with nor- Y mal admission, the parallelograms of velocities are respectively represented by the magnitudes a Q01; and by the-magnitudes u", w; so both parallelograms being shown by full line in Figure 1. To these parallelograms of velocities correspond certain angles or, B and 8. If now the admission, that is, the quantity of fluid passed through the runner whilst the fluid remains'at the same head and the runner runs at the same number of revolutions, the meridian velocities indicated.

in Figure 1 by cmfimn and in Figure 2 by one are altered. If, therefore, a satisfactory efficiency is to be obtained at a partial admission, provision must be made in order to actually obtain the new velocities 0m u cm? and 'w or in other words provision must p be made in order to obtain the two new par- .allelogra'ms of velocities formed respectively by u and w" and by a and 'w These new' parallelograms are indicated in dotted lines in Figure 2, and it will be seenfrom that 1 bealtered, $5

. and by figure that the angles a, B, to be altered tO'a', ,8,- and 8 For this purpose the blades of the runner are adapted, to be turned about axes in such a manner that the required alteration of the angles ,8 to ,6 and 8 to 8 may be obtained with an accuracy sufiicient for practical purposes. In Figure 1 the pivot about which the blade is turned is indicated by 0, the adjusted blade being indicated by 1, 0, 2. It will be seen that the angles [3' and 8 of the adjustable blade have approximately the required magnitudes. mined bythe required alteration of the angles the requirement of a sufficient strength of the runner. The pivot may, therefore, be either inside or outside the surface of the blade.

'In the construction of the runner of a water turbine with axial water flow shown in Figures 2 and 3, several manners of mounting the runner in the rotor wheel are shown by way of example.

The blades S shown on the left hand side of these figures are provided at their inner faces with. a pivot A which is rotatably mounted in the hub N of the runner. The hub N is preferably of spherical shape in order to obtain a satisfactory fit between the blade and the hub in each position of the blade S.

The adjustment of the blades may be effected by any suitable means, such as for instance, levers, gear wheels or the like. In the construction shown in Figures2 and 3, the pivot A mounted in the hub N is provided with a lever K which may be actuated by a pull rod B. By operating the pull rod B the lever K together with the pivot A and the blade S are turned. The blade may also, if the rotor wheel is provided with an outer rim L, shown on the right hand side of Fig-- ures 2 and 3, be mounted in the said rim L. For this purpose the runner S may be provided at its outer face with a pivot Z which is mounted in the rim L, and is adapted to be turned by means of a lever K or the like, together with the runner S Moreover, as

.shown on the right side of Figures 2 and 3,

the blade S? an inner pivot A and' the blade S is mounted not only in the hub N but also in the outer rim L, that is at both ends. The blade S may also in this construction be turned by means of a lever arm which may be fixed either to the outer pivot Z or to may be provided as well with the inner pivot A.

he arrangement for adjusting the blades described in connection with 'axial flow turbines may also be used, as shown in Figures 4 and 5, for radial flow or Francis turbines and for combination axial flow and Francis turbines. The axis of rotation A of the runner S' is mounted as shown 'in these figures in the upper rim L as well as in the lower rim L but it maybemounted. only The position of the pivot is deter-' an outer pivot Z so that and 8 are required in one of these two rims. The adjustment of the blades S may be effected by the means mentioned in connection with axial turbines. In Figure 4 the pivot A is provided at the upper rim with a lever K adapted to be actuated by means of a pull rod B.

The regulation of the blades of the runner may be effected automatically either by using for instance, the alteration of the condition of flow of the medium, or the alteration of the number of rotations, or the alteration of the turning moment all of which are produced by the alteration of the admission, or by combining the regulation of the runner blades with the regulation of the guide vanes for instance, in such a manner that by means of a common guide the adjustment of the guide vanes is effected, and by the latter an adjustment of the runner blades is eflected. Finally the regulation of the blades ofthe runner may also be directly obtained manually.

I claim;

1. A runner wheel for high speed waterv turbines provided with guide vanes, said' wheel comprising a plurality of angularly adjustable blades, and means to adjust said blades while the wheel is running so as to vary not only the outlet angles and passages but also the inlet angles and passages of the wheel, to correspond to variations in the supply of water and in the power required.

2. A high-speed hydraulic turbine comprising movable guide vanes adapted to vary the admission of water to said turbine, a runner comprising a plurality of angularly adjustable blades, and means to adjust said blades while the wheel is running so as to vary not only the outlet angles and passages but also the inlet angles and passages of the said runner to correspond to variations the supply of water passed through said guide vanes.

3. A high-speed hydraulic turbine comprising movable gu ide vanes adapted to vary the admission of water to said turbme, a runner comprising a plurality of angularly adjustable blades and adjusting means for said runner blades so that the outlet angles and passages as well asthe inlet angles and DR. ENG. VICTOR KAPLAN. 

